The Red Carnation
by alice writes stuff
Summary: Leia was never a big fan of Valentine's Day... until Han Solo came along. Now, one of her least favourite times of year has become an opportunity to find happiness. That is, assuming her feelings are returned. ((belated Valentine's Day fic.))


A.N- Hey guys, I'm back with another Star Wars fic. This time, though, it's SkySolo, with one-sided HanLeia. It's sort of a belated Valentine's Day fic. Hope you guys enjoy it! I don't own any of the characters in this

Leia had never been a big fan of Valentine's Day. Aside from the chocolate- and the chance to try and eat more of it in one sitting than her brother- the day had never really meant much to her. This year, however, it was different. This year, she had a problem, and Valentine's Day seemed as good a time as any to get it resolved. Her problem was with a guy called Han Solo, who'd been friends with her and her brother, Luke, for the last year or so. That wasn't the problem, and neither was the fact that it was pretty obvious that Luke had a crush on Han. She'd just let him get on with it, and hoped that everything would work out in his favour. Until now. Now, she'd fallen for Solo too, and her main concern was taking care of the problem, and making sure that things weren't made awkward for her and Luke. That was the last thing any of them needed. So she'd come up with a plan. All she had to do now was put it into action.

It was the last Friday before Valentine's Day, the easiest time to carry out the plan. For the last week, the school had been selling fake red carnations, that students could give to friends or people they had crushes on. Luke had obviously bought one for Han, but hadn't gotten round to handing it over. Leia hadn't managed to pick one up yet, however. She was going to do that today, then find Han and hand it over. It shouldn't be too difficult, all she had to do was buy a flower. As she approached the table, however, it became clear that there was going to be a problem. Han was already at the table, in the middle of buying a carnation. Leia sighed, and approached. Maybe she wouldn't need to buy anything. His reaction to seeing her could be all the proof she needed as to how he felt, and whether this was worth it.

"Hey, Han," she said, as casually as she could manage. Han quickly handed the money over and turned to face her, hiding the flower behind his back.

"Hey, Leia," he replied. She had to hand it to him, he was good at acting calm in what had to be an unfortunate situation. His reaction gave her a bit of hope, though. Clearly he didn't want her to see what he'd bought, so maybe it was for her.

"Didn't think you'd go in for all this stuff," she gestured to the table, where there were still quite a few carnations. Since she didn't want to hold up the queue, she started to walk away from the table, Han joining her.

"Normally, I don't. It's all a bit sappy for me. This year, though, I thought I might as well do something. There's some things that need to be said, and this seems like a pretty good time to say them."

"Yeah, nothing like the over-commercialisation of romance to make you want to confess your feelings," she said, smiling. Then, it happened. Han said the thing that effectively killed all the hope that had been building up inside her.

"Hey, this is kinda random, but do you know where Luke is? I need to give this to him." Leia felt her hands clench into fists. She wasn't normally one to resort to violence, but right then, all she wanted to do was grab the carnation out of Han's hand and destroy it, or throw it away, or something. The thought of Luke's reaction when he found out was the only thing that stopped her. It wasn't hurting him just because they'd fallen for the same idiot.

"He's in the library. I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture," she didn't care if she sounded mad or upset. For the last year or so, she'd interpreted his behaviour towards her as flirting, only to find it was her brother he was interested in. A far as she was concerned, she had every right to be angry with him.

"You think so?" she nodded, not sure how else to respond. Was he really that stupid, that he couldn't figure out how she was feeling? As he walked away, all she could do was sigh and wonder how things had gotten to this stage.

When Leia got to her afternoon maths class and flopped down in her usual seat next to Luke- thankfully, Han wasn't in any of their classes, being a year older- she quickly noticed that her brother was much happier than usual. Honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him smile _this much._ His smile faded, however, when he saw the look on her face. He didn't bother asking if she was okay, since the answer was pretty obvious. Instead, he held out a hand under the desk, and she took it. It was his prosthetic, the one he always covered up with a black glove because he still wasn't comfortable with letting other people see it yet, but she didn't care.

"If it helps at all, I haven't said I'll go out with him yet. I can still say I'm not interested, if it's going to be a problem." Leia frowned, feeling a bit conflicted. On the one hand, it was going to be difficult to see them together, knowing it could've so easily been her. On the other hand, she knew she was stronger than this. It wasn't anything time and a giant tub of ice cream couldn't solve.

"It won't be a problem, don't worry. I'll just need a couple days to get this out of my system, that's all," at least, she hoped that was all it would take. The sooner she took care of this, the better. With a sigh, she turned back to her work, hoping to use it as a distraction from the pain that had settled in her chest.

At the end of the day, Leia was seriously considering taken the school bus rather than go home in Han's battered old van, the Millennium Falcon. However, Luke managed to convince her not to. After all, it was quicker than the bus. When they got to the van, Han was already waiting for them.

"Hey, Luke," he said. "Do you wanna hop in the front for a change?" this was rare. The front passenger seat was normally reserved for Han's dog, Chewbacca, or sometimes for his friend Lando. It really depended on the circumstances. It had never been offered to either of them before. She was surprised, however, when Luke shook his head.

"Maybe some other time. Today, I think I'll stay in the back with Leia."

"Alright then," he sounded a little disappointed as he unlocked the doors, allowing them all to get in.

For the majority of the journey, all three of them were silent. Occasionally, Han would try to start a conversation, but he never got very far. Leia wasn't ready to talk to him just yet, and Luke seemed to be in a world of his own. When they were almost home, he pulled out a red carnation. He glanced at Leia, and she nodded. She would get through this, she reminded herself. After all, nothing lasted forever. Soon enough, something would happen to change this. Whether it was her moving on, or them breaking up. She hoped it would be the first one, though. Her thoughts were interrupted when the van stopped. They were finally home. As she climbed out, she glanced back just in time to see Luke hand over the flower. Quickly, she shut the door, not wanting to see any more. This was going to be a lot harder than she'd expected. As she walked away, she decided something. She officially hated Valentine's Day.


End file.
